Saving energy

Though I have always leaned towards the conservative side of things (ok, more than leaned...), I have certainly noticed a large shift left over the last 5 years in my political and personal views. As part of that, I have found myself making more of an effort to conserve energy and recycle, especially here in Germany where recycling is a big deal and everyone has several sets of trash that only certain products may be thrown away in. However, there are times I don't make the effort, largely when the effort inconveniences me. For example, we were in France this weekend and had to replace the batteries in my kids Leapsters. Rebecca insisted on bringing all the batteries back home (in addition to already having more than we really needed for an overnight) to recycle them there instead of throwing them away in the hotel. I would have thrown them away in the hotel. And there are some times when the effort to conserve energy seems to go just a bit too far here. In particular, lights in certain rooms and bathrooms are programmed to shut off if no motion is detected in a certain amount of time. And that time is WAY TOO SHORT. When you end up using the bathroom and are there for greater than 3 minutes, it is quite an issue to be stuck in an unfamiliar stall in pitch darkness with the motion sensor near the doorway. Absolutely ridiculous.